By Roy B. Blizzard
Today’s passage in translation comes from a question sent in by one of our members. The question, sent in by Lucy, asked if I could explain the meaning of the breaker in Micah 2:13.
Dear Lucy,
I have a series that addresses that subject but to be honest, I am not sure which one it is. I think it is the series of Jesus the Rabbi.
Briefly, in answer to your question, this passage is the passage to which Jesus is referring in Matthew 11:12. From the day of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence and the violence taken by force. The passage has nothing to do with violence but is a hint back at Micah 2:13. This is a passage that has rarely been understood in Christian circles because they fail to understand that Jesus is hinting back at this passage and the link between this passage and John the Baptist. The passage starts in Verse 12:
[12] I will surely assemble O Jacob all of you;
I will gather together the remnant of Israel;
I will bring them together as sheep in a fold, as a flock in the midst of their pasture;
They shall make a great noise because of the multitude of men.
[13] And the poretz (or the breaker) is gone up before them.
They have broken through and passed on through the gate, and their king is again on before them,
and YHWH is at their head.
As I mentioned, this is a very difficult passage, although the understanding of the passage has been known in Jewish circles for many centuries. As a matter of fact, you might be interested to know that one Edward Pococke, who was a Regis Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford, wrote commentary on the book of Micah in 1676 in which he states that it was most unfortunate that many is his day had neglected the standing rule of interpretation, which was to take notice of the original Hebrew text before attempting a translation. Keep in mind when Dr. Pococke wrote in 1676, the King James Bible (published in 1611) had only been in circulation approximately 50 years. All the way through Pococke’s preface on his commentary on the book of Micah he despairs at the neglect on the part of the translators of the Hebrew text and an acquaintance with Hebrew for commentators and commentaries throughout the century.
In his commentary on verse 13 of Chapter 2, he points out that, "Israel would be gathered together and shut up as sheep into a fold." Then, he says that the "ancient Jews (David Kimchi, 1160-1235, and Abravanel, 1437-1508) declared that Haporetz (the Breaker) was Elijah and their king is the Son of David and then he goes ahead and says, "observe what our Savior Himself has taught us that John the Baptist was that Elijah which was to come," citing Matthew 11:14.
He continues that "through the preaching of John the Baptist, the wall was broken down. And, the Lord, the Son of David, was going before them leading them out into pasture."
So, to sum up, "the breaker" is a reference to Elijah who, in turn, refers to John the Baptist and the King, the Son of David, is a reference to the Lord Himself.
